Oregon Group Aims to Legalize Medical Magic Mushrooms

A group called the Oregon Psilocybin Society is putting together an initiative that would legalize the medical use of magic mushrooms.

“It enhances creativity, it enhances openness,” says Tom Eckhert, who founded the Oregon Psilocybin Society with his wife Cheri Eckhert. The two have spent the past two years creating an initiative that would legalize psilocybin (“magic”) mushrooms for medical purposes. The two expect the issue to be put to a vote of the people by 2020.

“We envision a very regulated production center that the state keeps track of inventory and things of that nature, so we know that it’s not getting out where it shouldn’t be getting out to,” says Chris. If he and his wife are successful in putting the forthcoming measure to a vote, and it’s passed into law, Oregon would become the first state to legalize magic mushrooms for any use.

In California proponents of an initiative to legalize magic mushrooms were recently cleared by Secretary of State Alex Padilla to begin collecting signatures in attempt to place the measure on next year’s general election ballot. Unlike the proposal being formulated by the Oregon Psilocybin Society, California’s initiative would remove all criminal penalties for “possession, sale, transport and cultivation”, allowing it to be used for recreational – and not just medical – purposes.